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TagsWomen's groups to support bill that overrides Christie's July veto of funding for clinics
BY JEANETTE FRIEDMAN
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
The ongoing battle to restore $7.5 million to family planning clinics in the state will be met in front of the State House on Monday, September 20 at noon. That's when a slew of women's groups, including the NJ chapter of the National Organization of Women (NOW/NJ), the League of Women Voters, the National Council of Jewish Women, Health Professional and Allied Employees, the Women's Political Caucus, and Women Advocating for Good Government (WAGS), will send representatives to call on women in the state to support Senator Loretta Weinberg's ([D] District 37/Bergen County) bill to override Governor Chris Christie's July veto of restored funding to Family Health Care.
The Governor also vetoed a bill that would take $24.6 million from what they were told was an over-funded line item in the prescription program for state employees to provide Family Care health insurance to tens of thousands poor working New Jerseyans with children.
Although the Family Health Care bill passed with a veto-proof majority, the Governor vetoed it anyway, and now six of the seven Republicans who voted for it have said that they would not support Sen. Weinberg's bill to override. The original bill specifically said money could not be used for abortions, but the Republicans refuse to vote for Weinberg's bill because 29 of the 58 family planning clinics are run by Planned Parenthood. All 58 clinics are expected to lay off personnel and cutback hours, reducing services to thousands of poor women who turned to them for birth control and health screenings for breast cancer, ovarian cancer and other reproductive diseases.Democrats have pointed out that the State has lost $9 in federal monies for every dollar it would have spent on the program.
"This issue is about health care for women in New Jersey," Weinberg told NewJerseyNewsroom.com. "I know there are many good people on the other side of the aisle who will join us."
